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Armstrong is reported to have confessed to Oprah Winfrey during their interview which will be aired on Thursday in America. This may be all good, and help cycling move on, but we can’t overlook the reasons as to why he is doing it or the outcomes from it.

Why is he doing it? Well I believe Armstrong is doing it purely for personal reasons. He wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t going to be beneficial to him.

Now how can Armstrong confess after denying it for so long? And, after calling the whole case against him “lies and a witch hunt”, how can this be beneficial to him?

It is going to cost Armstrong millions of dollars as he gets sued by this, that and every other company that has ever given him money. The Sunday Times is already suing Armstrong for $1.6 million.

But it isn’t just Armstrong being sued that he has to worry about. He is also likely to have to face court and have the federal investigation reopened, in which case he could have jail time.

So why is Armstrong confessing? It doesn’t seem to make sense. A lot of reports suggest that he is doing it to get a reduced sentence so that he will be able to compete in Iron Man Triathlons.

But what use is having a reduced sentence when you’re going to be so busy in court?

Now I can’t quite work out what personal reasons he might have, unless someone at the UCI has annoyed him. If that is the case, he may well be aiming at taking them down with him.

It would be the best result for cycling if that happened. If Armstrong came out and confessed everything. How he got around the systems. How the UCI is implicit and even helped him.

Doing that would cause a major rebuilding of the UCI from the ground upwards, allowing for stronger doping standards and stricter anti-corruption measures.

It would be a whole new beginning for cycling.

But it can’t stop at the UCI. It should also force some others out of the sport of professional cycling that have strong links to doping. People like Bjarne Riis. People who have strong links to doping and aren’t doing anything for the good of the sport.

Remove the rotten apples and cycling can be rebuilt and regain a clean image. There are a lot of honest young guys being guided by the right hands coming through, and hopefully they can enjoy a clean, even sport, without being constantly suspected of cheating.

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1) Damage Limitation.
2) Attempt to protect his fortune and rebuild it at a later date.
3) Advised to do this by his “expert counsel” who see the best way to keep their personal gravy train going is to keep Lance in the public eye, and keep up the delusion in Lance’s little world.
4) Egomania – being the centre of attention, no matter how odious is better than being ignored.
5) Knows that an Oprah interview is as soft as a Tahs training camp.

According to a report on ABC Radio this A.M. Dick Pound (gee what an unfortunate name) from the IOC has said that if Armstrong’s “confession” and “whistle blowing” extend to showing that the UCI systematically covered up doping then the IOC will have no choice but to dump cycling from the Olympic program.

I guess if Armstrong is doing this to protect himself, the cycling in general may be caught in the cross-fire and become “collateral damage” in the war against doping.

One of the main reasons (if not the only reason) for this ‘admission’ is the so-called ‘whistleblower suit’ that is being brought against Lance by Floyd Landis (hence the media reports that LA is trying to make things up with Floyd again). That suit claims that LA defrauded US tax payers when he was on the US Postal team, as he used the $ to cheat and also is alleged to have sold of team equipment to fund the doping program.

That sponsorship was worth $10 million a year. Times that by 5 and that would put quite a dent in Lance’s wallet, which is worth a reputed $100 million. The danger for LA though is the fact that the US government is thinking of joining the suit against him. If that happens, the chance of the suit being successful is much higher.

If LA admits a few details of doping, he loses a million here, maybe 5 there, but nothing like as much as he could lose if Landis’s kicks his ass in court.

This about turn is all about limiting the amount he has to pay. Yet again he is showing himself to be adept at working the numbers, and the masses.

I believe that confessing will only make that issue worse, and that he will still end up paying 50+ Million. Landis is smart though to as he can get up to 30% of what is paid in the suit. So if he gets the government joining, he will get a lot of money.